USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > The social history of Flatbush : and manners and customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings county > Part 5
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INTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
their employers, and in this country, as well as in Eng- land, this manner of sweeping chimneys was finally for- bidden by law.
There was, however, a more primitive method of cleansing chimneys, which was common in the country towns, but which from force of circumstances could not have been available in large cities.
A very rainy day, on which there was little or no wind, was taken advantage of as most suitable for the occasion. A huge bundle of straw tied on a pole was brought in from the barn, the fire in the fireplace was allowed to go out, and then this fagot of straw was lighted and held up the chimney. One man was sta- tioned outside to watch if the rain extinguished every floating particle of straw or soot, for sometimes the flame reached beyond the chimney top ; the roaring was like distant thunder, and, when the pole was withdrawn, a shower of fiery flakes and smutty tips of burning straw followed, like a dull, red shower, in the fireplace. There have not been many chimneys swept in that way in this town for the last thirty years, and yet it was at one time the only method of getting the chimneys clean. While upon the subject of chimneys and fires, we must digress to say that, during the last century, and even during the early part of the present, in case of the de- struction of a house or barn by fire, or in any accident which occasioned pecuniary trouble, the neighbors and friends always came forward to assist in making up the loss. There is on record, as early as 1675, the recom- mendation of Governor Andros to the people to assist by a day's work in repairing the loss, " through misfor- tune by fire," sustained by Jacques Corteleau.
It was also very common, when a building was to be
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
erected, for the farmers to be invited to assist in raising the frame. A branch of evergreen was placed upon the topmost point as a trophy of the completion of the work. Then a table was spread, and this was the occa- sion of feasting and merriment.
These pleasant, helpful acts certainly showed kind feeling between friends and neighbors, for there were no insurance offices and no fire alarms then ; they de- pended upon each other, and it was a dependence which did not fail.
WALLS.
Most of the houses at an early period were wainscot- ed ; above the wainscoting, they were plastered. Some of the walls in the houses built about 1800 were made with a smooth, clouded surface, as if to represent black- and-white marble.
The use of wall-paper in Flatbush probably dates from about 1830 ; but there is one house where, judg- ing from the style of the paper, which is still in a state of good preservation, it must have been introduced be- fore that date. This paper represents scenes in out-door life-chateaux surrounded by Lombardy poplars, gay ladies and gentlemen, evidently French, enjoying them- selves upon a lawn, etc. The design is probably in imi- tation of tapestry hangings.
The ground-color of the papering at first used was darker than that which afterward came into fashion ; these deep shades were in turn cast aside for delicate tints of fawn-color, pearl, and a shade known as "ashes of roses."
A DUTCH GARRET.
Although the heavy Dutch roof contracted the height of the second-story chambers, it was generous in the
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INTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
space afforded to the garret, which usually extended in undivided length from end to end of the house.
Huge beams, hewn from the woods when the house was built, and which seem heavy enough to support a castle, hold up the broad roof, which here sloped down to the floor. There was an attractive mystery about the dim corners under these sloping eaves, for this was the receptacle for all the articles which had gradually come into disuse through the changes of fashion or the wear of time.
Here might be seen a corded bedstead with, perhaps, a dislocated leg, serving to support the feather-beds not needed in ordinary use, the huge pile being carefully covered with a faded but clean patchwork quilt. Here we may find long chests on ball feet ; the cradle and the crib outgrown by the children ; bags of feathers for fu- ture pillows ; the quilting-frame ; boxes of old news- papers or Congressional documents ; old hairy trunks, which look as if the animal that furnished the leather had been mangy ; old bandboxes, used at a time when the ladies' bonnets were huge in size ; furniture in all stages of dilapidation. All these things were placed in orderly rows along the roof between the beams, which, like watchful policemen, gave a rap on the head to the intruder who unwarily came too near the slope which they supported.
On each gable-end ran up two brick chimney-stacks, roughly mortared, joining at the upper end before they pierced the roof. The window within the peak thus formed not even the neatest housekeeper could always keep clear of the webs the busy spiders were ever hang- ing across the panes. Wasps were fond of this quiet re- treat, although it was always a mystery how they got in ;
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
but there they were, buzzing angrily with extended wings against the glass, or sitting in motionless clusters along the molding.
It was in this roomy garret that the careful house- wife had the week's washing hung in stormy weather ; the clothes-lines were stretched from side to side, and thus, when in winter the ground was covered with snow, it was a convenience to have the great basket of wet clothes carried up and hung out here, to freeze and dry undisturbed and out of the way ; for in those days the laundry was not a room apart, the washing and ironing being done in the kitchen.
The shingled roof which overarched the garret in all its length and breadth was discolored by time, and streaked and stained with the leakage occasioned by hard northeast storms ; there were tin pans and sea-shells, apparently placed at random over the floor in a purpose- less way, but which were intended to catch the drip where the warped shingles admitted the rain. In win- ter there were little drifts of snow here and there which had sifted through nail-holes and cracks. A ladder rest- ing upon the beams led from the floor to the scuttle in the roof. The boards of the floor were not the smooth, white boards we use now for flooring ; they were dark and heavy, and looked as if they might have been sawn from the same trees that furnished the hewn beams sup- porting the rafters of the roof.
The great spinning-wheels, which have been unused for so many years, were also stowed away close to the caves in these capacious garrets. Near them remnants of flax hang on projecting wooden pegs, and hanks of thread are tucked between the beams and the time- stained shingles of the roof, as if the good old dames
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proposed to come back soon and resume their spin- ning; but, meantime, the Fates who spin the thread of human existence had taken the distaff, and Atropos had cut their thread of life before they, our dear old grand- mothers, could return to their spinning-wheels.
A DUTCH KITCHEN.
A Dutch kitchen ! what a comfortable-looking place it was ! Not an underground apartment, with win- dows half darkened by area steps, but on the same level with the rest of the house, and made pleasant and cheerful by the combined influences of sunlight and firelight.
There is no doubt that in early times the principal kitchen was also the family sitting-room, and that a smaller kitchen was at the rear of the large one for the use of the servants, who at that time were slaves.
We know of several Dutch houses in which there were these back kitchens ; they were probably attached to every house of any pretension to style or belonging to the more wealthy farmers.
The kitchen fireplace, with the oven attached, occu- pied nearly the entire space on one side of the room, so wide was the opening of the chimney.
The back-log was the unsplit boll of a hickory-tree ; it required the strength of two men to carry it in from the wood-pile and place it back of the andirons. A front- log, about one fourth as large as the back-log, was placed next upon the andirons, and the interstices were filled in with chips and corn-cobs.
There was a brilliant light when this wood was first kindled ; the sparks went snapping and crackling up the chimney ; the fire curled and spread, and broadened
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
upon its bed, until it went up in a sheet of flame that sent its glow across the kitchen.
After a while there was a rich bed of glowing hick- ory coals ; then the sap began to bubble out of the ends of the back-log and drip into the ashes, adding its mo- notonous undertone to the quiet singing of the tea- kettle.
At night the coals were covered with ashes ; for the fire in the kitchen, like the sacred fire on the altar of some of the heathen gods, was never allowed to go out.
The floors of these Dutch kitchens were kept sanded with white sea-sand ; this was scattered over the floor on one day, and on the next formed into various pat- terns with the broom. The boards of the floor, the tables, and the pails with brass hoops were assiduously scoured. Upon the walls were hung tin pans and pew- ter vessels of various sorts, while the kitchen "dresser " looked tasty and neat with its burden of blue or brown dishes, plates, bowls, and large pewter platters, each re- flecting the firelight or throwing back the flashes from the bright tins on the opposite walls.
The huge kitchen fireplace was high as well as wide, and across the top was hung from side to side a blue or pink check valance, which was put on clean every Satur- day afternoon. By the old people these were known as "schoorsteen valletje."
CELLARS IN OLD DUTCH HOUSES.
The kitchens of these old Dutch houses, as we have stated, were never in the basement ; that portion of the building was always adapted to the preservation of the provisions for winter use. Nothing was ever made or purchased by the old-time householders in small
INTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
quantities at retail. Notwithstanding their habits of careful economy, they laid in a very bountiful winter store.
There was no convenient grocery just around the corner at that time ; no butcher making his daily rounds ; no stall where fresh vegetables could be pur- chased at a short notice, and, more than all, there were no canned fruits, vegetables, or meats.
The stores upon which the family depended for their winter use were carefully provided in the autumn, and the cellars of these old homesteads, broad as the house itself, were capacious enough and of a temperature fit- ted for the preservation of all the beef, pork, butter, fish, and vegetables which might be needed through the long, cold winters.
The cellars were carefully built, with a view to being cool in summer and warm in winter; to accomplish this they were of rough, unhewn stone, with brick or earthen floors. To insure perfect cleanliness, the neat housewife had them thoroughly whitewashed scmi- annually ; but, in spite of all her efforts, there was sometimes an unpleasant odor coming up from the great heaps of potatoes, turnips, and parsnips. This was especially the case toward spring, when the farmer set his men at work turning the potato heaps and pull- ing off the sprouts which the warmth of the cellar may have caused to grow. This sometimes was occasioned by the want of ventilation in the cellars, for it was cus- tomary in the autumn to close up the windows and gratings with salt hay, which was tightly packed against every opening, leaving only toward the southern expo- sure some entrance for a gleam of sunshine. A candle, or the open cellar-door, gave the visitor to these apart-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
ments the only means of picking his way there from December to March.
The furnaces with which we heat our dwellings would render such storage of winter provisions at the present time impossible, even were there not other rea- sons which make such a course unnecessary.
Here in these cellars might be seen huge hogsheads of salted beef, barrels of salted pork, hams in brine be- fore they were smoked, firkins of salted shad and mack- · erel, firkins of home-made butter and lard, stone jars of pickles, and little kegs of pigs' feet in vinegar, called souse. Festoons of sausage hung in the cold-cellar pantry, "rolliches " and head-cheese were on the swing- ing shelf, which was constructed as a protection against the foraging mice.
In another portion of the cellar were bins for the potatoes, turnips, and parsnips. There were great heaps of apples for cooking or common use, barrels of apples of more choice varieties ; barrels of vinegar, and of cider, and at the foundation of the kitchen chimney there was a receptacle for wood-ashes from the fireplaces above, to be used for ley in the making of soap.
These cellars were invariably entered from without by means of sloping doors over the steps. The doors were left open in dry and sunny weather, and fastened with a padlock at other times.
Thus the cellar in the Dutch homestead was the great storage-place for the provisions of nearly the entire year.
CHAPTER X.
FURNITURE.
WE know of no better way of giving the proximate value of housekeeping articles and furniture than to publish the list of prices paid for such when purchased.
We are enabled to do this by means of the possession of a bill of sale of the household effects of an old inhab- itant of Flatbush, whose death occurred in 1767.
This faded document is an inventory of the articles sold at auction, probably held for the division of prop- erty among the heirs.
The following extracts show the cost of such articles more than one hundred years ago.
The family clock sold for £12. Laurence Ditmaerse bought " een kas" (a clothes press, or chest.of drawers) for £8. Adraen Hegeman bought "een Brand-yzer, en een Tang, en een Aschchap" (a pair of andirons, a pair of tongs, and an ash shovel) for 15s. Jannetje Cornell bought "een deken " (a blanket) for 11s. 6d. “Een spiegel " (a looking-glass brought £2 5s. “Een zilver- gevest degen " (a silver-handled sword), £4 10s. “Een plaat," £2. A large looking-glass was purchased by Douwe Van Duyn for £3. A pewter platter was bought by Hendrick Suydam for 48. 6d., and another for 7s. 6d. Adraen Hegeman bought for 15s. “Een
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
knaap," a small stand such as was used for the evening candle. (" Zet de kaers op de knaap," to put the candle on the stand, was to begin the evening.) "Een tafel " a table, brought £1 12s. Whether this "tafel " was of deal, or of some more expensive wood, the inventory does not say. " Een bruyn tafel " (a dark table) brought 16s. "Drie dassjes en een suykeremmerjes," three small boxes and one small sugar pail or box, brought 3s. It was the custom to have a full, deep valance across the front of the kitchen chimney, as these open fireplaces were nearly as high as the ceiling ; it is that which is meant by the following : "Een schoorsteen valletje " (a chimney valance), õs.
This inventory and appraisement was made by two neighbors of the deceased, as they certify by their signa- tures :
" Opegenomen en geprecert by ons, LEFFERT LEFFERTS. LEFFERT MARTENSE."
At another auction sale of about the same period, in which the inventory is taken in English, which, how- ever, scarcely renders it more intelligible, we find the following list of prices :
£ s. d.
Evert Hegeman, a psalm-book. 00 6
Evert Hegeman, a psalm-book.
0 2 5
Hendrick Suydam, Jr., a basket of books. . .
0 1 6 Samuel Garretsen, one frying-pan. 0 4 0 Jan Suydam, an earthen dish. 0 3 9
John Lefferts, half a dozen pewter plates .. . 0 9 9
Gulian Cornell, half a dozen pewter plates .. 0 10 5
Peter Lott, knives and forks. 0 1 7
Peter Vanderbilt, Jr., one looking-glass. ..
0 18 0
Douwe Van Duyne, one large looking-glass. . 300
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FURNITURE.
Then follow a great number of farming implements, for all of which the prices are stated, and the whole is certified as correct by Jer. Vanderbilt and Gerret Kou- wenhoven.
In the year 1792 an appraisement of the property of Peter Lefferts, deceased, was made by John Van Der Bilt and Samuel Garretsen for division. We find the value of the articles thus given. We select a few from a long list :
£ s. d.
25 pewter plates, 18. each. 150
37 earthen plates. 0 10 0
9 pewter dishes, 48. each. 1 16 0
8 earthen dishes, 28. 6d. each 1 0 0
2 waffle-irons, 68. each 0 12 0
1 musket. 0 16 0
1 saddle and bridle. 3 0 0
10 keelers (wooden tubs used for milk) 1 0 0
6 spinning-wheels, 128. each. 3 12 0
1 pair kitchen andirons 0 8 0
2 bookcases, 18. 6d. each. 0 3 0
1 bed, bedstead, and curtains. 10 0 0 1 dining-table. 0 16 0
1 looking-glass 1 10 0
15 Windsor chairs, 68. each.
4 10 0
12 rush-bottom chairs, 28. each. 1 4 0
4 mahogany chairs, 88. each. 1 12 0
8 old chairs, 6d. each .. 040
1 mahogany dining-table 400
1 writing-desk. 0 10 0
1 cupboard .. 0 16 0
1 large chest. 0 16 0
1 looking-glass 1 0 0
1 large Dutch cupboard. 4 0 0
1 bed, bedstead, and curtains 15 0 0
' 1 wild-cherry dining-table. 6
1 0 0
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
£ s. d.
1 looking-glass. 150
1 eight-day clock. 14 0 0
1 looking-glass
5 0 0
1 desk and bookcase. 20
0 0
1 mahogany tea-table 2 0 0
1 bed, bedstead, and curtains 10
0 0
1 Dutch Bible. 2
0 0
1 English dictionary 1 0 0
1 parcel of books.
7 0 0
6 sets of china cups and saucers 300
27 Delft plates 0 13 6
1 silver tankard. 15 0 0
1 silver sugar-cup 14 0 0
1 silver milk-pot .. 4 00
13 silver table-spoons. 13 0 0
CHAIRS.
The chairs which, a century ago, were used in the best rooms, were of hard dark wood. The seats of these were very broad, and were generally covered with a durable silk and worsted brocade. The backs were high and straight ; the legs terminated in claw-feet clasping a ball. These chairs were of such good workmanship and good material that many of them may still be found in families in which, although in daily use, they have been preserved for more than a hundred years. Age has turned the wood of which they were made al- most black, or of a dark walnut color.
There are kitchen chairs which have also survived a century of service ; some of these may still be seen, be- ing used as garden chairs, their durability, and the fact of their being entirely of wood, fitting them for such a purpose.
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FURNITURE.
A low chair, with a seat of twisted osier, on which was tied a loose feather-filled cushion, covered with some gay material, was generally placed in the corner near a sunny window with a southern exposure. In front of this stood an array of favorite plants-roses, geraniums, or stock-gillies. On the back of these chairs hung the bag of knitting, the little red stocking, and the shining steel needles plainly visible, indicating that this was the favorite seat of the industrious mother of the fam- ily, and that this was the work she took up in her leis- ure moments-" between times," to express it idiomat- ically and forcibly, for, with these industrious people, time represented work ; or a basket of patchwork held its place upon a low stool (bankje) beside the chair, also to be snatched up at odd intervals (ledige tyd).
In the corner of the fireplace stood the large arm- chair of father or grandfather : these were circular and broad-seated. They held their places in convenient con- tiguity to the narrow mantel-shelf on which lay crossed the long pipes, ready for use.
In the best bedroom was generally to be found a spa- cious stuffed chair, the back some five feet high, and padded throughout. This was for times of convales- cence after sickness, or it may be that it was a pleasant retreat in which to take a midday nap ; the good moth- er rose at such an early hour she might be excused for this indulgence. These last-mentioned chairs, however, do not date farther back than the first years of this cen- tury.
WINDOW-CURTAINS AND BLINDS.
In the oldest houses, those of the first settlers, there were probably no blinds at the windows. The light was shaded by closing or bowing the outside wooden shut-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
ters. Succeeding generations used chintz curtains, and the remnants of these remain to offer hints, but not to furnish us with any assurance, as to whether they were hung in parlor or bedroom.
At no very distant period, green blinds, known as Venetian blinds, hanging inside of the window, served to soften the sunlight. They were formed of slats strung together with cords, and divided by a ladder of green worsted braid, depending from a green and gilt heading. They were opened at a greater or less angle by a green worsted cord and tassel at the left side, and were raised or lowered by a cord on the right side, which cord was wound round a gilt knob in the window-frame. This style of blind may still be found in England, but in this country they have fallen entirely into disuse, and with reason, for they were troublesome at best ; at the most inopportune times the strings would break, or the divisions of the braid ladder would become loosened, the broad swathe of light upon the carpet suddenly re- vealing their dilapidated condition.
As the ordinary outside blind took the place of the heavy wooden shutter, the convenient inside blinds have come into fashion ; these have displaced those formerly used.
CLOCKS.
The tall eight-day clock is to be found in all the families in this village. We are safe in saying that in every house in which live descendants of the Dutch settlers they can point to these old timepieces which once belonged to grandfather or great-grandfather, and which, old as they are, keep good time and need very little repair, although they have measured the hours of the past century.
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FURNITURE.
In most of these clocks the face is of brass ; some- times it is of porcelain ; but it is doubtful whether these fresh faces are the original ones. During the Revolu- tionary War the families who left the village took with them the works and left the case of the clock ; in con- sequence, there were many of the original cases broken or burned by the British.
Some of these clocks indicated the day of the month, as well as the hour of the day, and some showed the changes in the moon ; a few of them were musical, and played tunes at given hours. The mechanical arrange- ments for such performances have been worn out, how- ever, and at present they make no higher pretension than do the cheap and common clocks which mark the hours with noisy ticking. The oldest clocks were orna- mented at the top with brass balls. The most common devices for the embellishment of the face were the sun and moon rising above the horizon, or a representation of the antiquated Dutch galleon which swayed to and fro over the mimic waves with the movement of the pendulum.
We have the feeling that these old timepieces assume a peculiar dignity of their own, as they stand in such marked contrast to the fanciful French clock that orna- ments the mantel-piece, or to the cheap and noisy bit of mechanism which flippantly hurries through the an- nouncement that it has measured off another period of sixty minutes. There seems to be in the tall Dutch clock a realization of the importance of the hours, and a recognition of solemnity in the flight of time. It has marked so many changes that we almost invest it with a human sympathy for us mortals, whose short period of life it has so often measured. The key of the old
-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
clock has been handed down from generation to genera- tion, as Time, the conqueror, has taken it from the fin- gers that were accustomed to wind up the weights, and has passed it on to a younger hand ; and when that, too, has fallen, nerveless and helpless, it has handed it on to the next; and there stands the old clock still, ticking, ticking-counting the moments of time while we pass into eternity.
DUTCH CUPBOARDS.
In an age when pantries were not considered a ne- cessity in a well-planned house, the great cupboard sup- plied the convenience which we now find in the numer- ous closets designed by the architect in, and as part of, the house.
The dresser in the kitchen held the pewter and carthen platters in daily use ; the cupboard held the more expensive china and the silver.
It is probable that the word cupboard, however, came to be applied eventually to any large piece of furniture of the same shape, and that the table-linen and bed-linen were also kept in what were called cup- boards, so that they were not used exclusively for dishes, but were filled with the family treasures, in whatever such consisted.
The old cupboards have been banished to the garret or consigned to the cellar ; only a few of them still re- main with paneled doors and dark cherry-wood shelves, seeming to bid defiance to the ravages of time and to mock by their endurance the veneering of model fur- niture.
Those which have not been altered have very heavy overhanging moldings upon the top, and stand on huge ball feet. The inconvenience of moving such heavy
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